Canoers Paddle Up Support For Coronavirus-Hit Gowanus Businesses

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN — Too many businesses face stiff upstream currents during the novel coronavirus outbreak. But the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club is offering them a helping paddle.

A crowd-sourced online spreadsheet — "Support Local Gowanus Businesses!" — lists ways to support local businesses, whether storefronts are open and other helpful informations.

It's one of several impromptu local help lists that have sprung up across New York City as the new coronavirus shut down one piece of everyday life after another. This one started simply as Dredgers members emailed back and forth.

"It started as three bullets in an email," said Kelly Sanford, a Dredgers board member.

Those bullets grew into a longer Google Doc of local businesses before Sanford turned her self-proclaimed "love" of spreadsheets toward the list. She wanted to create something that was easy for people to share and add things.

"By the end of day one we had 30 listings or so," she said.

Nicole Vergalla said local businesses are the fabric of their community. Like her fellow Dredgers, she worried about how they would keep afloat as the city went under a "stay-at-home" order and bars and restaurants closed for all but takeout.

They quickly discovered that buying gift certificates for those bars and restaurants could be helpful.

"You’re giving them money to help them get by and when things blow over you can get sit down for a nice dinner," Vergalla said.

One Dredger — Owen Foote — even paddled up and down the Gowanus Canal with a homemade sign imploring people to buy gift certificates.

The Dredgers are also putting $2,000 cash originally intended for a new boathouse bathroom directly toward local businesses. They're holding a #GowanusStrong Raffle to raise funds for Arts Gowanus.